Aristotle's Virtue

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, first introduced virtue ethics as a method to describe how a good person should act. As such, virtues play a major role in every profession including engineering. Virtuous engineers make better decisions throughout the design and analysis of any component, item, or system. This paper begins with a description of Aristotelian virtue ethics followed by a discussion on the virtues I have gained while at Texas A&M University, virtues needed as a mechanical engineer, and methods of expanding these virtues.

“Can virtue be taught?”, was a question I struggled with when Meno ask Socrates. In Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle answers the question in a way I better understand. He believes that virtue can be taught and if you are taught good behavior you are excellent. He especially believes that the virtue of a human being is “being characteristic”, which helps me understand “What is virtue? “Virtue, according to Aristotle, are the characteristics that makes us either good or bad. Everything we do is not natural we learn what is moral and immoral by what we were taught. Somethings we believe are right might not be right to others, but just because we may think it is immoral does not make it necessarily wrong. Aristotle mentions that passion is presented in the soul virtue.

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, ethical virtue is at the base of every Aristotle argument. Aristotle’s goal is to discover: what constitutes human excellence? A key position Aristotle takes in ethical virtue involves habit among human actions, “Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and who are made perfect by habit.” (Nic.2.1.1103a23-25). Through this statement, Aristotle believes that humans do not have virtues by nature, which means humans cannot be born with virtue. However, nature equips humans with the potential to acquire virtue over time through social training and habituation. Aristotle’s concept is on the same grounds as Roger Bergman’s, author of Catholic Social

Mankind has been searching for existential reasoning since our earliest beginnings. One of the biggest questions, the one that keeps me up at night, “How ought we to live?” will be explained from the viewpoints of Epictetus in his Enchiridion and Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics. In this paper, I will discuss both philosophies in principle and practice, while giving insight to how to they may function in a modern world situation. Although both theories have useful guidance for navigating the human condition, Aristotle’s theory of virtue encompasses more of a real world schematic of how to interpret oneself in relation to our surroundings through compassion rather than apathy.

According to Aristotle, a virtue is a trait of mind or character that helps us achieve a good life, which he argues is a life in accordance with reason. There are two types of virtue: intellectual and moral. Aristotle holds the view that moral virtues are states of character lying in the middle between extremes of deficiency and excess. Moral virtue has to do with feeling, choosing, and acting well. Virtue is acquired through habit and continuous action. It does not come about simply by learning but by practice. In holding that moral virtues are states of character, Aristotle gives us a view of what sorts of things virtues are. However, not all states of character are virtues, there are more states of character that are vices. Aristotle's view that virtues lie at the mean between two extremes is supposed to help

Aristotle’s believed that virtue is something you learn by seeing other people who were virtue.

In terms of understanding both sides of the argument I agree completely with Aristotle. I think knowing everything there is to know about a subject you are trying to persuade people to believe makes your argument more believable and a better person.

A virtue ethicist Aristotle believed we should aim for eudemonia. Eudemonia is an ideology of happiness which would result in a life which is in perfect balance. Eudemonia include habits which include patience, temperance, courage etc. Virtues such as these are perfected so that as a society we can be perfectly happy. A virtue ethics approach would suggest that people suffering from an undefeatable illness would not be living a “eudemonia life”. If such a way existed that could improve the physical well‐ being of a person suffering from an illness, a virtue ethicist such as Aristotle would support this. However, if such a case where someone was incurably and terminally ill, Aristotle would hope that they would be brave enough to accept their

Aristotle found that there are two kinds of virtues of the soul. First, there are virtues of thought, such as wisdom. Next, there are virtues of character, such as generosity. The main focus of his virtue ethics lies in the virtues of character. Aristotle assumed that these virtues are learned through habit. For example, whereas intellectual virtue may arise from reading a book, the adoption of virtuous character is inherited solely by practice. Therefore, it is through a person's upbringing that moral virtues are cultivated, and it is through the habit of thinking virtuously that one can excel towards happiness.

Aristotle is an ancient genius Greek philosopher who spent most of his life studying, writing, and teaching his ways of knowledge by tutoring future leaders. Several Greek people looked up to him as a role model who had all the questions answered. Aristotle was a man of poetic justice and he proposed the idea to inform humans into studying poetry in a specific way. The study Aristotle was teaching was to analyze constitutive sections, that way it could be easier to draw general conclusions. Aristotle poetry heavily shocked the world with his methods; he influenced other early roman philosophers to write with knowledge that poetry is mimetic. His legacy would inspire young Roman writers because it created a focus on objects within the world.

There are certain ways in which we acquire virtue. Aristotle states that we acquire virtue

The anagnorisis is the moment when a character in the tragedy has an important discovery, goes from ignorant to knowledgable. As the King’s hamartia, which is his pride, leads him plant to kill the servant to be sure that his lineage remains ‘royal’. However because of a switch of potions, he believes that he has killed his daughter, the princess. This death causes a chain reaction which results in the suicide of the servant as well as the queen. When the king has his anagnorisis and realizes that he is the reason for all these deaths he says “My life no longer has any meaning”. He feels remorse for what he has done and the proceeds to commit suicide as retribution.

In Plato’s Menon, Socrates and Menon discussed about the nature of virtue and whether it can be taught. The definition of virtue varies a lot through the whole conversation. Even though Socrates and Menon failed to reach a precise definition of virtue after spending amount of time and effort, their arguments enlightened my idea that virtue consists in the ability to take the responsibility to good purpose and a willingness to explore and learn. Virtue is not some sort of knowledge that can be acquired by teaching or through predecessors, instead, being virtuous can be achieved by constantly discovering and applying true opinions.

In Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses the idea of moral virtue. Aristotle emphasized the importance of developing moral virtue as the way to achieve what is finally more important, human flourishing (eudaimonia). Aristotle makes the argument in Book II that moral virtue arises from habit—equating ethical character to a skill that is acquired through practice, such as learning a musical instrument. However in Book III, Aristotle argues that a person 's moral virtue is voluntary, as it results from many individual actions which are under his own control. Thus, Aristotle confronts us with an inherently problematic account of moral virtue.

Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher educated by Plato in Athens during the golden age of Greek Civilization. He would later become a renowned teacher himself. Many of his works, in fact, are actually lecture notes written by his students. It was said that he knew everything there was to know in the world at the time. He wrote extensively on practically every field of study known to man at the time. He wrote with such expertise and logic in each field , most considered these fields of study settled and there were no serious inquires in such areas for over 2,00 years, during the Enlightenment.